Elevator-shaft damper.



No. 719,437. PATEN'IIED FEB. 3, 1903. .T. A. CRAIG.

ELEVATOR SHAFT DAMPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12, 1902. N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PA'FENTED FEB. 3, 1903.

J. A. CRAIG. ELEVATOR SHAFT DAMPER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12 1902.

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JAMES A. CRAIG, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE WV.CRAIG, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

ELEVATOR-SHAFT DAM PER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 719,437, dated February3, 1903. Application filed March 12, 1992. Serial No. 97,957. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. CRAIG, a citizen of the United States,residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator-Shaft Dampers;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to dampers for elevator-shafts wherein said shaftsare closed for fire protection at each of the floors through which saidshafts pass.

The object of my invention is to provide means for closing or dampingelevator-shafts at each floor through which said shafts pass; to providemeans for operating said dampers from any floor through which saidshafts pass, and to enable the elevator to be operated for any desiredheightwithout afiecting thedamping of the shaft above the point to whichsaid elevator is operated.

My invention consists in the novel form of dampers used, in the meansemployed for holding the same in position, for releasing the same, forgoverning the fall thereof, and in certain other novel combinations andarrangement of parts, as will be more fully described hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical sectional view ofan elevator-shaft having my improved dampers applied thereto, thesection being taken on the plane of the line pg of Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is asimilarview taken on the plane of the line 0: 0c of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is asectional plan view taken on the plane of the lines to w of Figs. 1 and2. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are detail plan views of the damperplates; and Fig.7 is a sectional view of the lower damper-plate, taken on the line .2indicated in Fig. 6.

In the drawings, 1 is an ordinary elevatorcage, having lifting-cables 2and guideways 3 of the usual form. At the top of the elevator-shaft andbelow the lift-cable sheave 4 are placed the shafts 8 and 36. Theseshafts pass transversely across the elevator-shaft and are supported bysuitable bearing-plates 14, which are secured to the framework 35. Thesaid shafts S and 36 serve as supports and guides for the blocks 9 9,which are placed adjacent to the bearing-plates 14 and which havenotches 24 in the inner faces thereof,adapted to normally receive theedges of and support the damper-plates 25, 25, and 25 The shaft 21 isjournaled in the bearing-plates 14 and has enlarged threaded portions22, fittinginto corresponding threaded openings in the blocks 9 9. Thesaid threads are right-handed in one of the blocks 9 and left-handedinthe other, so that when the said shaft 21 is turned in one direction theblocks will be forced toward each other, and when said shaft is turnedin the opposite direction the blocks will be forced apart. One end ofthe shaft 21 extends through the bearingplate l t and has a sheave 2Othereon, around which passes a cable 30, which preferably extendsdownward through all of the floors traversed by the elevator-shaft, butwhich may be extended to any other suitable place. By pulling on thiscable 30 the shaft 21 may be rotated, thus forcing in or out the blocks9 9 and supporting or dropping the damperplates 25 25, &c. The lowerdamper-plate 25 has a cable 6 attached to the central part thereof andpassing upward together with the lift-cable 2 through the holes 40 inthe other damper-plates. The said cable 6 passes several times around adrum 7 on the shaft 8, thence over a small sheave 10, and downward to acounterweight 11, adapted to move up or down along suitable guides 1212. The

counterweight is madeheavy enough to nearly but not quite balance theweight of the lower damper-plate 25".

One end ofthe shaft 8 passes through the bearing-plate 14 and has across-arm 15 secured thereto, upon which are pivoted the arms 16 16. Onone end of the said arms 16 16 are weights 17 17, and on the other endsof said arms are curved shoe-plates 19, adapted to form a frictionalcontact with a ring 13, secured to the bearing-plate 14, when theweights 17 are thrown outward by centrifugal force resulting from therotation of the shaft 8.

The drum 7 is secured to the shaft 8 by a feather 37, so that when thedrum is rotated by the cable 6 the shaft 8 will turn therewith; but thedrum may slide along said shaft, thus taking up the creeping action ofthe cable and holding the same central with the elevator-shaft. I

Pins 26 26 are placed in the sides of the elevator-shaft to catch andsupport the upper damper-plate 25 and hold the same on the level of theupper floor. The other damperplates 25 and 25* have notches 26 therein,which miss the pins 26 and allow said plates to pass on down to theirrespective floors. The second damper-plate 25" is caught by the pins 27,and the notches 27 in the lower damper-plate 25 allow said plate to passthe pins 27 and go on down to be caught by the pins 28.

The plate 25 is provided with guide-blocks 33, adapted to engage theguideways used for the elevator-cage 1.

The operation of the device is as follows: The damper-plates being heldby the blocks 9 9 in the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1and it being desired to close or dampen the elevator-shaft, (as at nightor on an alarm of fire,) the cable 30 is pulled from any suitable pointto which it may run. This will rotate the shaft 21, and thereby forceoutward the blocks 9 9 and release the damperplates. The plates, beingheavier than the small counterweight 11, will fall and in so doing willdraw the cable 6 around the drum 7, thereby rotating said drum and theshaft 8 and actuating the governor mechanism on the end of said shaft,and thus controlling the speed of fall of the said damper-plates. Allthe dam per-plates being supported by the lowerplate 25 and this platehaving the guideblocks 33 thereon, the plates will fall squarely and becaught by the pins 26, 27, and 28, as before described.

When desired to open again the elevatorshaft, the cage 1 is run up inthe usual manner and the plates, being carried therewith, are lifted toposition and secured in place at the top of the shaft by the blocks 9 9,as before.

It is obvious that thismechanism may be applied to any number of floorsthrough which an elevator-shaft may pass and that other means might beused for catching the plates at the successive floors from top tobottom, such as gradually-decreasing sizes of plates and openingstherefor from top to bottom of the shaft. Although I have shown thepreferred means for this purpose, I do not wish to limit myself to theexact construction shown. It is also very clear that as thedamper-plates are always above the cage it is impossible to shut thecage between floors (as is the case with shaft-dampers now in use) andthat the cage may be run to any desired height without afiecting thedamping of the shaft for the floors above.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an elevator shaft damping device, damper-plates normally supportedat the top of the shaft; means for releasing said plates,

frictional governing means for controlling the fall thereof and meanswhereby one of said plates will be caught at each of the floorstraversed by the said shaft.

2. In an elevator-shaft-damping device, damping-plates normallysupported above said shaft, holding-blocks for supporting said plates,means for releasing said plates by drawing apart said holding-blocks, acable attached to one of said plates, a drum around which said cable ispassed and governing mechanism connected with said drum for con trollingthe speed of rotation thereof.

3. In an elevator-shaft-damping device, a plurality of damping-platesnormally supported above the shaft, a cable attached to the lower'ofsaid plates, a counterweight attached to the other end of said cable,adrum around which said cable is passed, a governor mechanism connectedwith said drum, and blocks on said lower damper-plate engaging withguideways in said shaft, substantially as set forth.

4. In a damping device for elevator-shafts, a plurality ofdamping-plates, holding-blocks normally supporting said plates at thetop of the elevator-shaft, a threaded shaft passing through saidholding-blocks, a sheave on said shaft and a cable attached to saidsheave whereby the shaft may be rotated for spreading the holding-blocksand releasing the dam per-plates.

5. In a damping mechanism for elevatorshafts and in combination with anelevatorcage,damping-plates,means for normallysupporting the same at thetop of the shaft,means for releasing the plates, a cable attached to oneof the plates, frictional governing means operated by said cable, andmeans for catching and supporting one of the plates at each floortraversed by the elevator-shaft, the said plates being adapted to beraised and carried above the elevator-cage when the same is run upwardand, if released from the holding means at the top of the shaft, to bedeposited at their respective floors when the cage is run downward,substantially as described.

6. A damping mechanism for elevatorshafts, comprising damping-plates,blocks for holding said plates at the top of the elevatorshaft, a shaftfor releasing said plates from said holding-blocks, guide-blocks on oneof said plates, a cable secured to the said plate, governing mechanismoperated by said cable, pins in the sides of the elevator-shaft forsupporting one of the said damper-plates at each floor traversed by thesaid elevator-shaft and notches in some of said damper-plates coincidingwith some of said pins but not coinciding with other of said pins,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES A. CRAIG.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. CRAIG, D. O. BARNETT.

